text: It is difficult to avoid feeling like you have stepped into a bygone era when speaking to Harry Kane. He is the classic example of the local boy made good, with all the ingredients of what was once expected of a player present in his life story. As he prepared to take on Chelsea in the Capital One Cup final, he was reminiscing about his trip to Wembley to watch Spurs beat Chelsea in the same competition in 2008. Harry Kane will try to take his  form to Wembley when Tottenham play Chelsea in the Capital One Cup final . Kane (right) celebrates with his Tottenham team-mates after scoring an equaliser against West Ham . Kane, second from the right, poses with David Beckham at the launch of his academy in 2005 . Kane scored twice as Tottenham came from behind to beat Arsenal in the recent north London derby . There is the fact that he went to David Beckham’s school, played for the same junior team as Essex’s most-famous face and met the player when he was a star-struck 11-year-old. Then add the fact that he is a Tottenham academy graduate who, a little over a year ago, was not widely expected to be much more than a fringe player but who has now turned into one of the Premier League’s most exciting players on the verge of an England call-up. This is how football used to be: before the Premier League, before £5.1billion TV deals and before globalisation. Just for good measure, he says he wants to stay at Tottenham for life. Of course, that is an aspiration rather than a guarantee but at times it does feel as though the Harry Kane story is too good to be true. Kane (centre) headed his second goal for Tottenham against Arsenal to secure the win at White Hart Lane . So perhaps it was inevitable that cold reality would intrude on his fairy tale eventually. After all, no one is afforded grace in the post-Twitter world, as Kane has now discovered. One of the best in a series of impressive performances saw him score twice against Arsenal. The following day photographs emerged of a 10-year-old Kane in an Arsenal shirt at their 2004 Premier League victory parade for the Invincibles team. According to Tottenham fans he ‘is one of their own’ but at that moment he appeared to have a past, even though it does seem harsh to judge a 10-year-old who was swept along by a moment of a title euphoria. Just to be clear, Kane’s loyalties quickly became undivided and committed to the team up the Seven Sisters Road. ‘At that age I think most kids are just football fans,’ he said. ‘They love watching football. Obviously I love Tottenham and love them as a club. And I think the derby game definitely showed that. People will always have opinion and pictures but that’s this day and age and Twitter and what you’ve got to deal with. ‘In the way it was a compliment that those pictures came out because if I hadn’t have scored against Arsenal, they never would have. The derby was a very special day for me and one I won’t forget.’ Kane (left) celebrates after scoring the winning goal for Tottenham against Arsenal in the Premier League . England manager Roy Hodgson (centre) was present as Kane inspired Tottenham to a win over Arsenal . Kane is an academy graduate alongside midfielder Ryan Mason (left) and Andros Townsend (right) Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino (left) has looked to give younger players a chance in the team . There is also a more serious side to his story. In an age in which clubs import 16-year-olds, Kane, along with Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend, represent the rise of the home-grown English players. Every football think-tank concludes that such players are the lifeblood of the English game but finding a Premier League manager willing to risk playing an academy graduate is a rarity. Luckily for Kane, Tim Sherwood, who was his academy manager at Spurs before blooding him in the first team, and present boss Mauricio Pochettino have shown faith in him. But, he agrees, that it seems harder than ever for English players to make that breakthrough. ‘I think it is,’ said Kane. ‘There’s a lot of money in football and if a team haven’t got an answer, they just go and buy someone and they think that’s the answer. That’s not always the case. We’ve got great players here, with the likes of me, Ryan, Andros as well as [Algerian] Nabil Bentaleb. We’ve got young players who have shown that you don’t always have to buy players. ‘There are players that are home-grown and in your academy that are good enough. It’s just whether or not they get the chance and maybe it’s just that enough young players coming through don’t get a chance on the big stage. That’s a big thing. But fortunately for us, we did and we were able to take it.’ Kane believes that Nabil Bentaleb (left) will prove to be an important player at White Hart Lane . Kane (left) scored twice when Tottenham beat Chelsea 5-3 in the Premier League on New Year's Day . Kane (left) slots past Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet (centre) to score for Tottenham at Anfield . He is wary of drawing comparisons with Sunday's opponents, Chelsea, but they have yet to turn a trainee graduate into a prominent first-team player since John Terry made his debut in 1998, though Ryan Bertrand, now at Southampton, did appear in their 2012 Champions League-winning team. ‘Clubs are different,’ said Kane. ‘Obviously Tottenham have been very good and we’ve managed to use our young players in a very good way. Chelsea are Chelsea. It’s hard to say what they want to do. They’ve been buying a lot of players and things like that. But I don’t know. ‘Maybe they will look at us and maybe other teams will look at us and start looking at the academies and see the players we have. But, again, it’s such a cut-throat league and the pressure on the managers is tough, so you have to have a strong manager to do that.’ Yet Kane’s journey from the academy has not been smooth. He was released by Arsenal at eight, by Watford at 10 and even initially by Tottenham after trials. He then had spells on loan at Millwall, Orient, Norwich and Leicester. It is not the usual superhighway to success that a gilded youth might expect. Harry Kane has played for England's Under 21s, but is expected to soon be named in the senior side . Kane (left) was loaned to Norwich, as well as Millwall, Leyton Orient and Leicester before his Spurs chance . ‘I had set-backs but I still always had that belief that I was going to play for Tottenham,’ he said. His coaches from that period confirm that he had great self-belief and that he had an incredible ability to learn. The header he scored against Arsenal is a new weapon in his armoury; and his speed has improved since specialised gym work. ‘Even when I went out on loan to clubs, it was always to come back and be a Spurs player. I had good loans at Orient and Millwall and I had probably not so good loans at Norwich and Leicester. At Norwich I was injured and then I went to Leicester and I found myself on the bench. But I still used that to my advantage as an experience. I had to do that here at Spurs for a while, be on the bench and wait for my chance. It’s definitely something that’s helped me with my game.’ He also had the benefit of having Beckham as a role model. They had both attended Chingford School — ‘he was a big inspiration, a player I adored’ — and then, as an 11-year-old schoolboy, Kane met Beckham when he launched a soccer academy at the 02 Centre in London. ‘I was a little skinhead then,’ he laughs. ‘Some of you may have seen the pictures!’ Now Kane, 21, is in the spotlight, attracting covetous glances from other clubs, though he can only imagine being at White Hart Lane. ‘If I’m at Tottenham in 10 years’ time, still playing regularly, then I will be very proud and very honoured. I love the club, they’ve given me a base, growing up as a kid and it’s something that I want to do. I love playing here.’ He appears genuine, uncomplicated in the best sense of the word. And just discussing the prospect of playing at Wembley adds an excitement to his voice. Kane (centre) will hope to inflict misery upon Chelsea again when they meet at Wembley on Sunday . The striker will try to continue his formidable rise in his first appearance at Wembley for Tottenham . Kane was present as a fan when Tottenham last won the League Cup in 2008, which was against Chelsea . ‘I’ve been there a couple of times with England but the one that stands out for me is the 2008 League Cup against Chelsea, which we won. ‘I was there as a fan, with the family and that was a great day out, to see them lift the trophy and all the fans stay behind. Staying with them is something I’ve been thinking of leading up to this game. And if I’m up there lifting the trophy it would be something very special.’ And, for the record, he was definitely a Tottenham fan at that final.